| Handled a number of industrial exposure Silicosis cases for Tyrolit, including a case with more than 100 plaintiffs. The office is also currently handling an industrial exposure Beryllium case for Fansteel.Prevailing in the trial court and on appeal in a case upholding the insurer’s interpretation of a co-insurance clause and the use of replacement of cost value, instead of actual cash value, in the co-insurance formula.Prevailed at two critical stages in the litigation of a shareholders' class action suit against a former CEO of a public company who believed he had the right to maintain his personal privacy. First, we defeated class certification, persuading the judge that the named plaintiffs were not adequate representatives of the class; and second, we successfully argued at summary judgment that plaintiffs' counsel's interpretation of federal disclosure obligations was not supported by the law. Plaintiffs' counsel called for the disclosure of his stock pledge as collateral for a personal loan based on a unique interpretation of SEC regulations.Convinced a federal court judge to issue an injunction and escrow $550 million of sale proceeds for our surety bond client that had issued performance bonds in excess of $500 million to a public utility, then became concerned about the security of its bonds when the utility company sought to sell substantially all of its nonregulated assets. We protected the indemnification rights of our client and also persuaded the utility company to retire the surety bonds well in advance of their anticipated maturity dates.Two multinational conglomerates retained our General Litigation Department as their national counsel to develop e-discovery and electronic records retention policy programs. The firm was recognized for our cutting edge level strategies to win at trial.Defended King Hong Industrial Company, based in Taiwan, arising from a 63-year-old female who allegedly suffered traumatic brain injury after a fall from a secretarial-type chair, manufactured by our client. The trial was conducted over 15 days in the Pomona branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court. An ultimate defense verdict 12-to-0 was rendered.Defeated eight class actions, settled thousands of claims and recovered in excess of $100 million from 16 defendants, while defending the building owners and managers in the One Meridian Plaza fire in Philadelphia, the largest high-rise fire in U.S. history.Persuaded an arbitration panel that the language of a contract was clear and secured an arbitration award that required a disability insurer to reimburse a professional sports team for the $20 million remaining in salary commitment to a permanently disabled player, whom the team obtained in a trade, even though the insurer denied the claim, alleging that the trading team failed to disclose pre-existing injuries during the application process.Defended our client's right to its name in a $10 million trademark infringement claim, convincing a judge that not enough evidence existed to create a trademark challenge when our client, a top video adventure game manufacturer, was sued by another top producer of video games. The claim also called for a restraining order.Protected NASCAR's intellectual property by obtaining a federal court order on its behalf stating that it owns all rights, including copyrights, of the NEXTEL Cup Series Trophy when someone claimed unwarranted ownership rights to the trophy.Successfully defended a product manufacturer in a products liability claim that involved multiple deaths, where plaintiffs sought millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages for deaths they attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning from a heater manufactured by our client. The jury found for the defense on all issues. Represent the beneficiary under a will against claims by the decedent's children who did not inherit under the will. Applying the laws of three different jurisdictions and persuasively arguing the laws governing closely-held corporations and the ethical requirements for attorney draftsmen in New Jersey, our attorneys convinced the court that our client's inheritance was valid and the decedent's children were prohibited from invalidating the provisions of their father's will. Representing insurers in the Intermetal Mexicana case in which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals redefined the fortuity doctrine in first-party insurance coverage cases.Represented Handy and Harman in a products liability case arising out of exposure to cadmium. The plaintiffs were seven employees of Caterpillar in its York, PA, plant who brazed oil coolers using brazing rods that contained cadmium. They alleged that the fumes given off by the rods caused various adverse health effects including impotence. Five other plaintiffs were wives and girlfriends claiming consortium damages. The case was settled for an extremely favorable number. We then consulted on a second cadmium case for Handy and Harman helping their local counsel defend a similar case venued in Missouri. We then worked with Handy and Harman on the redesign of their labeling and warnings with regard to cadmium exposure and carcinogenic effects.Represented Nutri-System as national trial counsel to defend them against hundreds of cases brought by program participants throughout the United States who alleged gallbladder disease attributed to the Nutri-System foods. We obtained the nation's foremost authorities on gallstone formation in relation to diet (Dr. Paul Broomfield of Long Island, NY) and one of the country's leading gastroenterologists (Dr. Steven Peikin), who accumulated a library of the world's literature on the subject of gallstone formation and diet. We were able to establish that the diet was not related to the disease complaints.Defended Valspar Corporation on their packaging issues, in the area of exposure to xylene. This involved a canned solvent where the claim was that the warning labels were inadequate.Team of firm lawyers currently in the defense of international tort claims from 50 past and present employees of Kelsey-Hayes, an automotive parts manufacturer which is a subsidiary of TRW. Claim involves metal working fluids exposure at plant in Ohio, where plaintiffs are claiming a variety of significant respiratory problems.Defended Sigma-Aldrich Co. in a products liability case where an employee of Elf Atochem claimed various damages, including neurological injuries from exposure to dimethyltin dichloride and methyltin trichloride. Claims were also made on behalf of his wife and child who claimed behavioral and educational disabilities from derivative exposure to his work clothing. The case was resolved a half-hour before our Daubert motion was to be heard for a nominal amount.Defended a manufacturer of dental amalgam in class actions in various state and federal courts in Texas and Maryland and other states. Those cases alleged mercury poisoning from the amalgam. Represented the amalgam manufacturer in Los Angeles Superior Court. The case was successfully dismissed.Represented Merck in environmental litigation, involving a 9-acre mercury site that contained 350,000 pounds of elemental mercury as a result of Merck’s manufacturing and disposal practices. Obtained a toxicologist to do a historical analysis of problems associated with mercury. |
